In one of her essays on writing, published in This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage, Ann Patchett is very clear about a few things. Writing is hard and wonderful. Okay, I can accept that. She is also very clear that there is no such thing as writer’s block. She has no sympathy for that kind of excuse. Instead she tells us to sit down every day and accept NO distractions. It may happen that you do not write a word, but you MAY NOT to do anything else—no email, not surfing the web, no solitaire, no getting up to do a load of laundry. Ann did just this for one month, and then for another month and pretty soon she was into it; she was writing. Once the writing rhythm was established, she gave herself a little slack. But we have to admit that it worked.Just look at all the novels she has published.